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Players in uniform shall not address or mingle with spectators, nor sit in the stands before, during, or after a game. No manager, coach or player shall address any spectator before or during a game. Players of opposing teams shall not fraternize at any time while in uniform.

I read a book about umpires once, probably 30 years ago now, where they mentioned that one of the umps actually had to be out on the field enforcing the fraternization rules before the game. IIRC, it was something assigned to the junior man on the crew, because they all hated it, but it was part of the job. Not sure if they still do it.

Ron Luciano wrote about this in his "Umpire Strikes Back" book. He said Reggie Jackson was the guy that ended it.

The umps would look around before games, catch guys talking to opposing players, write them up and send it like they were supposed to and the players would be fined. Then Reggie started talking to opposing players all the time. Umps would tell him - Reg, we're writing you up for this, you're gonna keep getting fined. Jackson responded by telling them to write him up then. He said he was looking for ideas and advice on hitting in general and approaching specific pitchers, too. He figured the best hitters on other teams would be the best people to talk to in order to improve his game.

Luciano said that after that, others started talking and the league just said "screw it" and didn't enforce it. Luciano recalled a time he caught two opposing players talking dead to rights and wrote them up. A month later he ran into one of them and asked if he'd gotten his fine, and he said no. The league wasn't enforcing it and so the umpires decided there was no reason to keep writing guys up. And so the rule ceased to be enforced outright.

The umps would look around before games, catch guys talking to opposing players, write them up and send it like they were supposed to and the players would be fined. Then Reggie started talking to opposing players all the time. Umps would tell him - Reg, we're writing you up for this, you're gonna keep getting fined. Jackson responded by telling them to write him up then. He said he was looking for ideas and advice on hitting in general and approaching specific pitchers, too. He figured the best hitters on other teams would be the best people to talk to in order to improve his game.

Luciano said that after that, others started talking and the league just said "screw it" and didn't enforce it. Luciano recalled a time he caught two opposing players talking dead to rights and wrote them up. A month later he ran into one of them and asked if he'd gotten his fine, and he said no. The league wasn't enforcing it and so the umpires decided there was no reason to keep writing guys up. And so the rule ceased to be enforced outright.

Yes, when I was a kid the rule was enforced. Before games, during batting/infield practice, players would clearly and obviously avoid talking with or even walking/standing near any opposing players. But by the 1980s or so, that behavior was gone.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Has any player just clearly not been ready for a batted ball hit to them during this? The roll call happens every game; the odds say that at some point someone was waving at them while a pitch was thrown.

No manager, coach or player shall address any spectator before or during a game.

That is a crazy rule.

It seems crazy now, but these rules came into being in response to the Black Sox and the related gambling scandals of the 1910s/20s. The idea was to ensure that players/coaches/managers didn't present the appearance of taking the game less than seriously, or of making any deals with opponents and/or gamblers in the stands.

EDIT: I'm reminded of Jim Bouton's great anecdote he relates in Ball Four. Bouton is a kid, 12 or 13 years old or something, at the Giants game at the Polo Grounds. Before the game, there's star Giants shortstop Alvin Dark standing around near the stands. Bouton goes down to the first row, within earshot of Dark, and starts telling Dark was a great player he is, how when Bouton grows up he'd like him, he's so excited that Dark plays for the Giants, etc. etc.

And Dark calmly turns his head toward Bouton, gives him a withering look and says, "Take a hike, son. Take a hike."

not only a reaction to the gambling, i think. the incident of cobb going in the stands after the heckler was a giant headache for the image of the game back in the day.

i see opposing players talking all the time, and i do think they ought to tone it down, esp. in a close game. i find it a little unseemly, but maybe i'm just a bit old fashioned. its been a long time since i was 12.

Hey it's another chance to beat up on everyone's favorite punching bag, Rex Hudler! I guess I get that part -- but I still don't know why the author is pinning this all on Rex. There's really nothing other than thin circumstantial evidence that Hudler has anything to do with anything.

This is from the article:

Royals announcers Rex Hudler and Ryan Lefebvre have gone on-and-on about it on the air and on recent radio spots, saying it’s disrespectful and not old school and whatnot, and that Ned Yost should do something about it.

Seems like this might be something that others in the organization have been talking about for one reason or another. And it's their right to tell their players to stop fraternizing with the competition. Maybe they feel like there's not enough fire in the clubhouse, or some other such institutional ill that needs remedy. Maybe they want to nip this thing in the bud before the beer and chicken flows too freely.

Does Calcaterra have some weird ax to grind with Hudler? (Other than Rex is so terrible as an announcer and he's an idiot that gets too excited about this serious game of baseball.) Something tells me the KC Royals organization isn't being secretly run by puppet-master Rex Hudler, so I'm not sure why Calcaterra thinks this whole thing is mean old Cap'n buzzkill Rex's fault.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Has any player just clearly not been ready for a batted ball hit to them during this? The roll call happens every game; the odds say that at some point someone was waving at them while a pitch was thrown.

I once saw Melky Cabrera turn to the bleachers and doff his cap in the middle of trying to make a play. I don't recall if he made the play or not, but I think he muffed it.

edit: Google helped me find the thread on this very website about it! Coincidentally, TVerik made the 2nd post in that thread.

It's been more than five hours since this article was posted, and no one has yet dug up footage of Hudler chatting up an opposing first baseman after one of the rare occasions when he reached safely?

Also, has any manager ever held an open door team meeting to address something like this? And what's the point of closing the doors if you're just going to tell the press what the meeting was about anyway?

It was about this time that Gabby got into trouble with the Commissioner of Baseball, his one such reprimand, and it could only have happened in Chicago. Al Capone, by the early `30s, felt secure enough in his "position" to try to acquire some respectability. One reasonable way to do this was to appear in public at popular sporting events, like any legitimate celebrity; and he and his considerable entourage became regulars at Wrigley Field. Even after Al's imprisonment, the north side gang continued to attend. Bill Veeck Jr: "Whenever I saw a $100 bill (in the box office till) I knew Ralph Capone and his boys were at the game."

Al Capone would arrive in company with several bodyguards, and occasionally a young teen identified, then and later, as his son Albert Francis ("Sonny"). Capone never appeared in public with with his immediate family, the boy was Sam Pontarelli, one of an extended surrogate family Capone cultivated. (Albert Francis, as of this writing, is very much alive). Hartnett onc

It was about this time that Gabby got into trouble with the Commissioner of Baseball, his one such reprimand, and it could only have happened in Chicago. Al Capone, by the early `30s, felt secure enough in his "position" to try to acquire some respectability. One reasonable way to do this was to appear in public at popular sporting events, like any legitimate celebrity; and he and his considerable entourage became regulars at Wrigley Field. Even after Al's imprisonment, the north side gang continued to attend. Bill Veeck Jr: "Whenever I saw a $100 bill (in the box office till) I knew Ralph Capone and his boys were at the game."

Al Capone would arrive in company with several bodyguards, and occasionally a young teen identified, then and later, as his son Albert Francis ("Sonny"). Capone never appeared in public with with his immediate family, the boy was Sam Pontarelli, one of an extended surrogate family Capone cultivated. (Albert Francis, as of this writing, is very much alive). Hartnett once obligingly signed a ball for Pontarelli at Capone's request, the moment immortalized by a newspaper photographer. When the photo circulated, an edict came down from Commissioner Landis' office forbidding fraternization between players and fans. Hartnett's reply to Landis' admonishments became legendary: "If you don't want anybody to talk to the Big Guy, Judge, you tell him."

The photo can be found here:
http://www.earlyerabaseballphotos.com/haoffagahawm.html

Apropos of nothing, may I just say that I find the entry of the phrase "makes me want to vomit" into the regular public discourse of broadcasters and politicians a very sad event?

We'd have given you credit for "the regular discourse of Albert Belle and broadcasters and politicians."

Rex Hudler must have been high when he said that.

There are several references to this in this thread so (a) I musta missed a story and (b) really? Hudler seems much too tense to be a pothead. Is he way into the paranoia stage at this point or something?

It doesn't matter what Hudler thinks, but blatant fraternizing no matter what the game circumstance does seem to annoy some fans - many of whom have more emotional investment in the outcome than the players themselves, it seems.

Ticking off a portion of your customer base seems... counterproductive.

Before the season, I was willing to give Hudler a chance. But he is just so bad. He knows nothing about the team's history, his answer to any question about a player is to prattle on about body language, and his grasp on the language is tenuous at best. He makes it almost impossible to sit through a game. Much like the Royals' starting pitchers. Although they have the good taste to leave the game after four innings.

I'm usually in the "who gives a ####\" camp about pretty much every unwritten rule, but in the case of this particular written rule, I do think the players should tone it down a notch, it has gotten out of hand.

It's not clear to me; is the warm ups before the game or actually talking to the 1Bmen when you they get on first? Talking to the 1B seems sort of traditional, or maybe it just seems these guys are so good at what they do they can afford to talk a bit before the next ball comes flying at them.

There are several references to this in this thread so (a) I musta missed a story and (b) really? Hudler seems much too tense to be a pothead. Is he way into the paranoia stage at this point or something?

Really? He got fired from the Angels after getting caught in an airport with a pipe and some pot, IIRC. About, oh, 5-6 years ago now....lemme see if I can find it...